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MP3 Player News & Headlines
Blink-182, Weezer to headline free Virgin fest
(Reuters)
Reuters - After months of speculation about the fate of the 2009 Virgin Mobile Festival, organizers have made an announcement that should please music fans who've felt the economic pinch of the recession: this year's event is free.
Sony Music, IODA create digital network
(Reuters)
Reuters - Sony Corp's Sony Music Entertainment, the second largest music company in world, said on Wednesday it made a strategic investment in IODA, a digital distributor of independent music.
Happy Birthday! The Walkman Turns 30
(PC World)
PC World - Sony introduced its Walkman portable cassette player thirty years ago this week, kicking off a revolution in the consumer electronics industry by changing the way people enjoy music.
The Eight Thousand Dollar Piano-Shaped ipod Table
The Concerto Table, a piano-shaped table designed by Nicholas Lovegrove & Demian Repucci, has to be one of the most expensive and exclusive iPod accessories yet.
Apple Intros 8GB iPod nano Red
Apple today announced a new 8GB model of the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition. The new 8GB iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition holds up to 2,000 songs and is available for $249, joining the 4GB model priced at $199.
Paisley: 'Hard to ignore' serious themes on new CD
(AP)
AP - As much as he enjoys singing about the double lives of computer geeks ("Online") and amorous country boys ("Ticks"), Brad Paisley says there's too much going on in the world to be too lighthearted on his new album, "American Saturday Night."
iTunes Hits Two Billion Sold Milestone
Apple today announced that more than two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store.
MP3 Tech Commentary
Forum Question: What is your favorite portables gadget?
What is your favorite portable electronics gadget? An iPod? That shiny new PlayStation Portable? How about the hot selling Amazon Kindle 2 ebook reader? I've opened up a forum discussion on this topic in the Portable Electronics forums and would love to hear your opinions. Feel free to join the conversation!
New Sony boombox looks like a saucer The ZS-E5, available next month for an undisclosed price, is said to be Sony's most personalized and least expensive boombox to date. It sports a compact body, four body color choices (pink, blue, red, aqua) and a rather unique design compared to more expensive devices in this category.
Features of the ZS-E5 include a built-in analog AM/FM tuner, an integrated CD player that supports CD-R/RW playback, and a line-in jack for digital music players. This is on top of the large LED display. More details, when available, can be found at the Sony Web site.
Photo Credit: Sony
The boombox, despite ever popular MP3 players such as the Apple iPod, will continue to remain a favorite for at least some. That is why Sony continues to trickle new models out – the latest being the rather saucer shaped ZS-E5.
Smart Playlists: Create Song Lists That Keep an Eye on Your Music Library If you've got a sizable music collection, then creating playlists is an essential task for playing, burning, and syncing your music in an efficient way. Most, if not all, software media players support the use of playlists which you can use to organize your music library in many different ways. The only downside to using normal playlists is that unless you update them manually, they never change. So, what's the alternative? Some software media players such as Windows Media Player 9 and higher, support the use of smart playlists that dynamically change depending on the contents of your music library. Windows Media Player uses Auto Playlists which intelligently follow rules that you set. For example, if you define an Auto Playlist to contain only a certain genre, then it will populate itself with tracks from your music library that meet that rule. Even if you update your library with more of the same genre, your Auto Playlist will keep up to speed by automatically updating - this saves time when compared to normal playlists which would need to be manually edited. If you regularly add music to your collection and want a consistent order to your playlists, then smart playlists are worth using. For more information on creating smart playlists in Microsoft Windows Media Player, be sure to read our guide on Creating Auto Playlists. Related Articles:
Buying Guide: Before You Buy a Portable Ebook Reader
The age of the portable ebook reader is upon us. Though nothing will ever replace fully the beloved paperback, the idea of being able to take hundreds of digital paperbacks with you on the road has lots of appeal. A growing number of ebook readers are being released for your purchasing consideration. You should ask yourself first, however, which features are most important to you. Battery life? Screen size? How many books a reader can hold? Read Before You Buy a Portable Ebook Reader for must have ebook reader features.
Product Review: Nextar T30 Portable Media Player Photo credit: Nextar
The Nextar T30 portable media player, despite its inexpensive price tag, is hard to recommend when put up against other devices similar to it. It has a few stand out qualities, but the overall experience it provides is marred by a small host of mostly minor issues. Were there but a handful of these it would be one thing, but it is hard to overlook so many challenges at the same time. Should you choose to purchase this player, it is best suited for those on a budget who want a portable media player which offers a wide range of mostly functional features...read more
Organizing Your Music Library: Cover Design Software If you have a collection of music, photos, or other types of files that you have transferred to CD or DVD, then you can better organize your media by using cover design software. Unless you are a very organized person who knows exactly what's on each disc, then finding what you need from your collection can be difficult, especially if you only have the words, "backup 1", written on the case, or disc for example. Most CD and DVD cover editing software provides various design options that you can use to indentify your collection; typically you can make jewel case inserts, disc labels, and even booklets. One of the most useful features of this type of software is being able to add text to your designs - this is useful for listing what's on the disc such as music tracks for example. Some software can even automatically add a list of files that are on your CD or DVD - saving you the pain of inputting by hand. If you're lucky enough to have a printer that can directly print onto disc, then labeling your CDs and DVDs becomes even easier - not to mention paper-free. Even if you don't have this facility, using software to create and print covers is a great organizational tool. Read our guide on Free CD and DVD Cover Design Software for more information. Related Articles:
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